2% on pumpkin pie. and apple. 3% back on 4 trips to the airport. it's as easy as... -[ man ] 1... -[ woman ] 2... [ woman ] 3. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. good friday morning. i'm chris jansing. the president will head to pennsylvania in a few minutes, and he'll be visiting a toy company, using that small manufacturer as the latest backdrop to make his case to the american people about the fiscal cliff. yesterday treasury secretary tim geithner presented an offer to the congressional leaders including the stipulation that taxes go up on the wealthy. the headlines tell the story. "the washington post" wrote, "obama offers plan for cliff, not compromise." "the new york times." "gop balks at white house plan on fiscal crisis." and "the wall street journal," obama's cliff offer spurned.

i want to bring in joanne reed and molly ball, political reporter for "the atlantic." good to see both of you. good morning. >> good to be here. >> mitch mcconnell, we are told, literally laughed at the white house's offer. and if you listen to speaker boehner, it's not going very well. take a listen. >> i'm disappointed in where we are and disappointed in what's happened over the last couple of weeks. but going over the fiscal cliff is serious business. and i'm here seriously trying to resolve it. and i would hope the white house would get serious as well. >> and the speaker tweeted, "how serious is the white house about avoiding the fiscal cliff?" reports suggest, in some cases, not so serious. and also, joanne, what is the strategy here, and is there a risk like looking like you're not really negotiating? >> well, you know, i think what's interesting is that there's the posture that everyone is taking in public, but then what you're hearing behind the scenes is that everyone's sort of understands what the contours of the deal are going to look like. and what i see is john boehner

trying to sort of protect his caucus at this point because he probably understands that at the end of the day, that top rate is going to go up. and republicans are in a really awkward position because right now essentially they're just defending the tax cut for the top 2%. at the same time, the white house's public posture is to say well, no, we don't want to go over the fiscal cliff because you don't want to send that message to the markets. but then behind the scenes you sort of get the feeling they'd be willing to do it and they'd be okay at least temporarily having everything sort of default to that zero position we'd have on january 3rd and then negotiating with the new congress. >> well, the game yesterday, at least, seemed to be who's really serious about fixing the problem. let me play for you what harry reid said. >> he says that democrats have got to get serious about cuts, spending cuts. where's the disconnect, then? >> i don't understand his brain, so you should ask him. okay? >> there was an opening offer, as you know, molly, from the

president. i want to put it up. $1.6 trillion in tax increases, $50 billion in stimulus spending, $400 billion in medicare entitlement savings. again, an opening offer, but, you know, the question republicans are asking is, like, what's really negotiable here? and do you think that joy-ann is right, these are just both sides playing to their base at this point when in truth they both know the contours of the deal? >> yeah, i think joy-ann is absolutely right that this is a negotiating position. it's not an attempt to draft what the final offer is going to look like. and there's a lot of bluster on both sides. you know, republicans are saying this is absurd. this is a joke. but it's hard for them to threaten to walk away from the table when democrats have the leverage, and they know it, and they are behaving like they know it. and that seems to be what is shocking the republicans so much because in the past, the president notably hasn't been this tough a negotiator. they've been able to say no, bring us something we like better, and he's done it instead

of actually sort of calling their bluff and saying no, i want to see what your offer is. >> but this is the president, isn't it, saying i got this message from the american people. we were talking about this during the campaign. i won. and frankly, he feels pretty confident here, joy-ann. >> yeah, absolutely. this was litigated during the election. i mean, the president ran forthrightly on the idea of letting the bush tax cuts for the top 2% expire. and the polls show that most voters supported it. >> he thinks by going to pennsylvania and other places, he's going to reinforce, i have the american people behind me. >> absolutely. this is about going to swing districts where republicans will be under a lot of pressure from their home constituencies to not protect the top 2% at the expense of all the rest of the cuts. >> the other thing that's out there today, you have conservatives, charles krauthammer, erick erickson, to go off the cliff and we'll have the president to blame. do you think they could overplay their hand because conventional wisdom has been if we go off the cliff, it hurts the republicans. >> absolutely. i mean, the polls show that a

slightly larger proportion of the public would blame republicans in congress than democrats or the president. but most voters would blame everyone. and that's sort of the feeling among the electorate in general is they don't like congress, and it would be sort of a pox on all their houses. and the president is betting, number one, that he and his party could weather that better than the republicans could. and number two, that republicans know that enough that they wouldn't let it happen. >> let me bring in congressman peter welch, democrat from vermont. congressman, good morning. >> if i've been hearing you right over the last couple of days, you seemed pretty confident that the republicans are going to come over and raise taxes on the wealthy. but do you think they're going to do that without getting something in return? what are you willing to offer them? >> well, here's the dilemma. it's a real challenge for speaker boehner, and i think your commentators had it pretty accurately. the president did run on a plan to raise taxes on the top 2%. speaker boehner has said revenues have to be part of the deal.

but he hasn't done anything specific to say what revenues would be acceptable to him. so the talk about other cuts like medicare, the president has put $400 billion on the table, and the debt ceiling are really diversions that i think the speaker is using to try to keep peace within his own caucus. so the bottom line, we'd be better off -- america would be better off if we reached an agreement, and almost anything we do would provide that reassurance to markets. that are in the long run beneficial. >> if you talk to republicans, though, congressman, they feel -- and they will often say to you -- if you look at the numbers, it's not like the president won an overwhelming mandate. that's their line. and house ma -- they think they still have an argument to make to the american people as well as the president, and i just want to play for you something that just came out in the last hour or so. majority whip kevin mccarthy's office released this video. let me play a little bit of it. >> however good or bad we do is my income. this notion of $250,000 being

top 2% or the wealthy people in america ignores the way most small businesses work in america. >> this is to the republicans' point, obviously, that this hurts job creators. this hurts small businesses. and in the end, the tag line of that ad says, small businesses, we've got your back. what do you say to someone like that? >> well, i say that, you know, that was the argument that mitt romney made, and he lost. and keep in mind, it's not just that president obama won, but the exit polls showed that half of the folks who voted for governor romney agreed with obama, that taxes on the high-income folks had to go up. so the challenge on the republican side, and it is tough, is folks like kevin mccarthy did get elected. and in his district, his no-tax pledge worked for him. these guys are in a very tough spot because they know at the end of the day they're going to have to raise these taxes. but doing so will cause an immense amount of political pain. that's why in my view, it's

probably likely that we won't get a deal before january 1st. but on january 3rd, the senate sends a bill over. where now we're voting on a bill to lower taxes. the norquist pledge becomes irrelevant. in fact, they comply with the norquist pledge by voting for a bill that would provide tax relief for 98% of americans. so i just think this is a very difficult political situation on the republican side. you know, the speaker clearly knows that revenues have to go up. and he doesn't have the leverage now. and we're back into brinksmanship politics. but bottom line, the cliff is really much more a slope, and we can act on this ideally before january 1st. but because of political reasons largely on the republican side, it may be after january 1st. >> you know, i guess part of the discussion this morning has been about whether or not what the president put forward through tim geithner that was laughed at by mitch mcconnell, whether it went a step too far. even former congressman harold ford jr., a democrat, said this morning on "morning joe" he sees this as a problem.

and i want to play that for you, congressman. >> when you have ceos of the largest companies in the country, the biggest in the world suggesting that one, they might redomicile to a different country, that they're concerned about not only tax rates but the regulatory regime, i'm just not sure that this will sit well. >> not sure this will sit well. what's your reaction to what former congressman had to say? >> well, he's really not speaking to the issue. if you're going to have a negotiation, one party has to say, here's my specific offer. and you know, a response that you laugh away that offer is not a real response. that's just avoiding coming up with your own response. the challenge for mcconnell and for boehner is to put something concrete on the table. and why that's a challenge is once they do, if boehner says he's willing to go to 36% but not 39%, all hell is going to break loose in the republican caucus because there's a lot of folks there that will sing the song that yes, revenues will be part of it, but when you get specific, it's very, very tough

for them politically to do it. and that's why you're seeing the response be from mr. mcconnell, a laugh as opposed to a concrete, specific counteroffer. and they have got to come forward and show the president the money that they're willing to put on the table, and they haven't done it. and until they do, we're just going to have this circular talkfest. >> congressman peter welch, it's great to have you on the program again. thanks so much. >> thank you. you know, there was all this talk and buzz, and it was among us and the chattering class about this meeting yesterday. a big white house lunch between mitt romney and president obama and somehow would there will be a role maybe in these talks about the fiscal cliff. we don't know a lot about what they talked about. the meeting was about an hour long. they had white turkey chili and southwestern chicken salad. but molly, this is the first time they've seen each other since the election. what do you say beyond congratulations, mr. president? >> goodness knows. it's pretty telling that the most newsworthy item out of that

meeting was the lunch menu. the readout we got from the white house was very sort of boilerplate. we do know what didn't happen, unless there's something they're not telling us. romney was not offered a job or a post in the administration, as some had speculated might happen as sort of a conciliatory gesture. who knows if he would have taken that or wanted something like that. it was sort of very tepid, the language that we got, that they would work together in the future if opportunities arose on issues they were both interested in, and they discussed american leadership in the world, which is about the closest you can come to saying absolutely nothing. these are two men who were never close. they didn't serve in the senate together like obama and mccain did. really the only times they've met have been in the context of campaigning against one another, being on the debate stage together. so i don't think there was any way for them to get together and have it not be sort of stiff and awkward. >> and in fact, david gregory was reporting that romney doesn't want a part in fiscal cliff negotiations. there were reports that his team said, look, he's not looking for

anything from the president, but is there some role he could play given his experience, joy-ann, at some point in the next year or so? >> i mean, i think the difficulty for mitt romney and the challenge has always been that there really isn't a romney wing of the republican party. it's not like he can bring to bear constituency beyond maybe wall street. that wing of the party was more his niche. but the president can sort of talk to other people in the wall street wing. you know, he had some ceos over to the white house the other day. some of them represent that wing just as much as or more than mitt romney. so i think the awkward position romney is in is that he is sort of a man without a country politically. so i'm not sure what he himself could do. but i think the gesture was important because it does sort of represent sort of the marching on of democracy in the u.s. i think it was important from that standpoint, but i don't think we'll see much of mitt romney. >> joy-ann reid, great to see you. molly ball, thank you. also today, israel says the u.n. vote recognizing palestine as a state is, quote, meaningless. the general assembly voted

overwhelmingly yesterday 138-9 to give palestine status as a nonmember observer state. the united states voted against that resolution, but the new status means palestinians will have access to international bodies which could make it easier to challenge israel's occupation, as they say, in the west bank. how much is your current phone bill? four sixteen seventy six a month! okay, come with me -- we're gonna save you money. with straight talk at walmart, you get unlimited talk, text and data for only $45 a month per phone. would we get the same coverage? same coverage on america's best networks. you saved $146.76 by switching to straight talk. awesome! now you can afford to share your allowance with me. get the season's hottest smartphones like the samsung galaxy s2 and get straight talk with unlimited data for just $45 a month -- from america's gift headquarters. walmart. ♪

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so we have what seems to be both sides in the fiscal cliff showdown miles apart, and there's growing concern that some very popular tax deductions could just go away, from mortgage deductions to tax breaks for retirement. check out this new web video from the save my 401(k) campaign. >> you've probably heard how congress is running out of money. and with the upcoming changes to the tax rules, your 401(k) could be on the chopping block.

that's right. congress could slash your 401(k) savings to address the deficit. that means those 61 million hardworking americans with workplace retirement plans might not have comfortable, secure retireme retirements, after all. >> okay, that's scary. joining me, personal finance expert carmen wong ulrich. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> you look at that, and you think the sky is falling. would they really touch your 401(k), your i.r.a.? >> it sounds terrifying but i doubt this will happen. even though the top 20% of americans tend to utilize 80% of retirement savings, but the 401(k) is the middle-income way to save for retirement. and here's where they could hit you. for example, this is pre-tax money that you're saving, right? they could hit you there. this is money that you can actually grow tax free. they could hit you with that. but here's where it will hit retirees when it comes to raising taxes on income levels. in retirement when you may money

out of your 401(k), it's taxed as income. i.r.a., this is where folks save outside post-tax money into retirement savings. you may lose the tax deduction there. that will definitely hit the top percent of americans, and that's a concern because it's a lot of small business owners. >> let's talk about the other immensely popular deduction, and this is the mortgage deduction. >> this is a heated one. this is very heated. here's the thing. if you're looking at your interest that you're paying, up to a million dollars of that is deductible. second homes, the interest is deductible. home equity loans, the interest is deductedible. now, that's been around since the teens. the ability to do that. so here's the thing, though. only one in four homeowners actually take this deduction. >> really? >> yes. right. people aren't really surprised because most homeowners actually don't necessarily qualify for it because they don't pay enough in interest. >> or they don't itemize? >> they don't itemize, exactly. so at least 25% to 30% of those folks, however, make less than $100,000. so these folks will get very hit by this.

if they can phase it in, that will make more sense to phase in some cuts here. or if they put a cap on it or at least get rid of the second home deduction, that makes more sense than cutting completely across the board. >> one of the things the president has talked a lot about is making sure there are benefits there for college students. he believes that education is an economic imperative, but there is talk about getting rid of the deduction for student loan interest. >> really. >> that's a big one for a lot of people just out of school. >> this would be tremendously bad pr when we're looking at students with debt loads over $25,000. so this interest -- >> that's the average now? >> yes. and if you make, though -- this is really target towards students that are starting out and trying to get on their feet. you cannot take this deduction if you make over $60,000. so let's say they pull that back. and they pull it to you need to make $40,000. if you make more than that, you don't get it. i understand. but this would be a really bad whammy to basically students looking to get ahead. it is a big deduction for them and saves them hundreds if not

thousands every year. >> if we go over the cliff, there's talk about what it would mean for unemployment benefits. again, the economy is doing a little better. the unemployment numbers have been a little better, but what's the impact? >> 2 million people -- >> 2 million would lose. >> -- would lose income. here's the thing. there's a lot of talk of these people are looking or not looking for jobs, they're just taking this check. that's not the case. there's only one job for every three folks looking for a job. so there literally is not a job available for two of those people. so they have this income, unemployment insurance which keeps them in the economy, a functioning part of the economy, so they can spend the money. so the economic policy institute went ahead and extrapolated. if you were to keep this $30 billion cost of extended unemployment insurance, actually, that will pump another $15 billion to $18 billion into the economy because these folks are spending money. and that's what fuels our economy. >> some of the people who argue that we should go off the fiscal cliff, that it will push them to negotiate a sort of more

thoughtful deal -- >> right. >> -- they say that it's not a fiscal cliff, it's, you know, more of a slope. having said that, what is your thought on the psychological impact if we go off the cliff? >> it's huge. it's tremendous. it's absolutely tremendous because it will go across the board from regular americans who are going to see their taxes go up from $500 to $2,000 for middle-income household. this is going to affect their bottom line tremendously. that's groceries. that's saving money. that's their savings money for the year. but also what about mortgage interest? will that affect the housing market? there may be initial -- basically, it will go back down again, the housing market. or if it gets phased in, maybe we'll see a jump because people will rush in before the deduction completely goes away. but i think there's a lot of concern and a lot of panic among regular americans about will i lose these tax deductions? and what's that going to do to the ability to pay all my bills? >> yeah, and that might just freeze people from spending when we've just gotten consumer confidence back a little bit. carmen wong ulrich, always great

to have you here. thank you so much. there is a startling new report in "the journal science" that claims the polar ice sheets are melting at record rates. up to five times faster than in the '90s. look at this video. it's fascinating. time lapse video from greenland. the report says that country and antarctica are losing 344 billion metric tons of ice a year equal to the weight of more than a million empire state buildings. scientists say these findings are important because the melting is causing sea levels to rise, and that makes coastal storms, say superstorm sandy, worse because of the massive flooding that's caused.

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with his wife, danielle, almost every weekend. derrell hasn't been able to visit his mom back east in a long time. [ shirley ] things are sometimes a little tight around the house. i wasn't able to go to the wedding. [ emily jo ] since derrell couldn't get home, we decided to bring home to him and then just gave him a little bit of help finding his way. ♪ [ laughs ] [ applause ] i love you. i love you, too. to politics now where u.n. ambassador susan rice is not just under fire over what she said about benghazi. now "the washington post" states

her and her husband do business in iran. $50,000 is in royal dutch shell, an oil company that stopped buying from iran this year after the sanctions were tightened. a spokeswoman for rice says she has complied with all financial disloeschh disclosure retirements and worked tough to iran. george h.w. bush's doctor says he's getting better fast and could be released from the hospital this weekend. the 88-year-old was taken in with bronchitis and is recovering from a lingering cough. his doctor also says he's in great spirits. hillary clinton says the government is still figuring out how to handle washington state and colorado legalizing marijuana. >> i respect those in the region who believe strongly that that would end the problem. i am not convinced of that, just speaking personally. i think when you've got

ruthless, vicious people who have made money one way, if it's somehow blocked, they'll figure out another way. they'll do kidnapping. they'll do extortion. not entirely surprising, a bunch of lawmakers are leaving congress to be lobbyist. heath schuler will work for duke energy, jason altmire will become part of florida blue, and geoff davis is forming his own public affairs firm. and here is the must-see video of the day. yes, that's bo, the white house releasing these shots of the first dog checking out all the holiday decorations including a replica of him. you can watch the whole thing on our facebook page. and if you read only one thing this morning, now, i haven't seen it, but apparently there's this reality show about a couple of guys in california who carve impressive sculptures out of trees using chain saws.

so a writer at "the new york times" gets a crazy idea and thinks, i wonder if they can teach me to do that over skype. you have got to click on my must read just to see how it all turned out. it's up on our facebook page at facebook/janua facebook/jansi facebook/jansingco. it's amazing what soup can do.

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relationship with house speaker john boehner. how do personal relationships affect political judgments in washington? joining me now, msnbc political analyst and columnist for "the hill," karen finney and republican strategist john braybender. good morning to both of you. it's interesting because tim geithner was persona non grata, including from speaker boehner. geithner has said he isn't the most likely guy to be going up on capitol hill. is this about his relationship with the speaker? what is it about? >> i think it's partially that. also, tim geithner is respected, he does still have respect among folks on wall street and business leaders. so a no of the stakeholders respect what he has to say. i think people see him as an honest broker and straight shooter. i can tell you i've been in meetings with him. he can be very direct and very blunt, but he also has a very solid understanding of the

mechanics of our economy but also sort of the big picture which i think is so important here in washington. we get caught up a lot of times in terms of the public conversation about this piece or that piece. but geithner is very got at sort of keeping the holistic approach in terms of something we do over here, what that's going to mean over there and sort of what that big picture is. >> there's a "washington post" article about him today. and it says about geithner, quote, according to some republicans, he's market-savvy, willing to make a deal and supportive of aggressive action to slow government borrowing. i'm wondering what you think, john. do you think that republicans feel that not only is he telling them where the president stands, but he's willing to go back to the president and other people in the white house and say, look. this is what you're going to have to do to make a deal? >> well, i think we're hopeful he'll do that, and i think republicans are very sincere in solving this crisis, but somebody better tell that to harry reid who made very derogatory statements towards john boehner yesterday. somebody better tell that to the

president who threw out a plan that has massive tax increases now and very small spending cuts later, which was not the promise that he had made. so i think geithner does have a tough job ahead of him because others are poisoning the process. >> you don't think this is just posturing that we should expect at the early stages of this, john? >> well, to me, this is how a 6-year-old negotiates his bedtime is by throwing out something that's ridiculous, and that's what this president seems to be doing at this point. and the rhetoric by reid is immature at the very least, and i don't think that helps the process. i think that complicates it. >> you know, i have to say, i completely agree. the problem is for real people out in outside of the beltway, it is frightening to watch going on because it does seem like there's not a lot of real conversation or negotiating happening. my read of what's going on right now, there is a lot of posturing. this is the theater of politics. i think most of us hate it, but i think there's also the purpose that it serves is to create the

political space on both sides so that, you know, when a deal is made, when there is a compromise, both sides can go back and say, you know, we really hung tough, and we really fought hard. so, i mean, some of this, i think, is to be expected. and i do think underlying it all, what you hear, remember, mitch mcconnell is in cycle. he's got to worry about being challenged from the right. so there are some political dynamics also. >> since you bring him up, let me talk about this "politico" article that's just out asking the question, can president obama and mitch mcconnell overcome bad blood? and it describes the frosty relationship between the two. one senior republican senator who asked not to be named said mcconnell views the president as, quote, unimpressive and thinks the president is not up to the job. i mean, what kind of impact does that have, john? if your point is that if you hear comments about boehner's brain, if you're hearing this on the other side, how much do these personal feelings get into these very important political negotiations?

>> well, unfortunately, they do become personal. and i think that's not helpful to the process. i do think, however, this president is in a very unique situation coming off this election that he can demonstrate that he truly is going to work with everybody and not just use this as an opportunity just like he told the russians he was going to be more flexible on missile defense, i think he probably told a lot of liberals he was going to be more flexible on raising taxes after the election. i think that's the wrong approach, and i think that he has to earn the trust of the republicans right now. >> you also have a lot of people talking about whether people like paul ryan and mitch mcconnell are looking at how they approach this in terms of the next presidential race. we'll talk about that on another day. karen and john, thanks to both of you. >> thanks. also making news this morning, in just about half an hour, the supreme court is expected to announce whether it will take up two same-sex marriage cases. the justices are behind closed doors right now discussing the challenges to the defense of marriage act which several federal courts have found unconstitutional.

they're also expected to talk about prop 8 which is cal kl's ban on same-sex marriage. that woman who was attacked and disfigured by a chimp in connecticut is settling with the animal owner's estate. remember charla nash? she's going to get about $4 million. her lawsuit originally asked for $50 million. the chimp's owner died in 2010. nash had to undergo a face transplant because of that attack. we're learning who holds the two winning tickets for the powerball jackpot. in missouri, officials say cindy and mark hill bought their tickets as a dearborn gas station. lottery officials will hold a news conference in just a little while. meanti meantime, a maryland man may have the other winning ticket which was bought in arizona. a cashier at a gas station says a man dressed in a construction uniform came in yesterday and asked for the number. when he told him the man confirmed it with other customers and then ran out. the new york city police officer seen in this picture giving a pair of boots that he

bought to a barefoot homeless man says it was a humbling experience. officer larry deprimo appeared on "today" this morning along with the woman who took this photo which went viral. the officer said what he saw that night was just unacceptable. >> the two things that really stuck out in my mind that night were just how cold it was and that this was the most polite gentleman i've ever met. i knew i had to help him. i really didn't think about the money. i just said, listen, there's an elderly man. he doesn't have shoes or socks on. i said i don't care what the price is. we've just got to help him out. >> they call them new york's finest for a reason. runniwild animals running l on staten island in just a few minutes. the hostess shutdown plant, you'll never guess what the deal includes. cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. >> it looks like about $1.8

million have been earmarked as bonuses for managers overseeing the liquidation. the judge is basically saying that the group deserves the extra compensation because they're still working as they wind down operations. before we grab out the torches and pitchforks and say hey, why are the managers getting money? we should also point out that the rank-and-file workers who remain at the company during this winddown are also getting bonuses to the tune of about $4.36 million. thief also agreed to distribute an extra day's pay to nonmanagement employees whether or not, chris, they were part of that strike that hostess essentially says sparked the liquidation. as for who is going to buy hostess, apparently there are lots of parties. they're all lining up to sort of talk about, you know, they're interested in buying a piece of hostess. apparently about 110 parties -- >> wow! >> -- are interested. and at least six of those parties, chris, i believe, have brought in large investment banks to help them in their

pursuit of the hostess assets, meaning they're pretty serious about it. so hopefully someone will save it. >> as our producer says, a conga line for twinkies. let's talk about "consumer reports." we love this every year, annual car satisfaction survey. who won? >> the chevrolet volt. >> wow! >> tops one again. >> second year in a row? >> second year in a row, once again number one in the owner satisfaction survey. 92% of volt owners surveyed say they would definitely buy that vehicle again which, as you say, this is a plug-in hybrid car for those who aren't familiar with the volt. as you say, it puts them on the top of the most-loved list for the second year in a row. >> and they said electric cars would be a flash in the pan. that's really interesting. >> it is. >> cnbc's mandy drury, always great to see you. have a good weekend. >> see you at 2:00 p.m. for "street signs." let's look at some of the other much-loved cars on that list. number five is the audi a3. tdi.

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on a gop immigration reform bill that would make it easier for some immigrant students to get visas. at the same time, new government figures show that more than 53,000 undocumented immigrants have been approved to stay in the country under president obama's new immigration policy. the deferred action for childhood arrivals initiative launched in august halts the depotatid deportation of some undocumented immigrants brought to the u.s. as children. joining me, one of the first to benefit from the new policy, and telemundo's jose diaz belart. good to see both of you. the president announced the program earlier this year. how is it being rolled out, and who qualifies? >> well, okay. first of all, it's only a two-year reprieve from possible deportation. this is not a permanent solution, this is just a two-year reprieve. and it could benefit up to 1.2 million young people like carla. to be able to qualify, you have to have -- you're under 31 years

of age by june of this year. you have to have lived in this country for at least five years, gotten to the united states before you were 16 years of age. and of course, not have any kind of record, criminal record. gone to high school or going to high school. it's a two-year reprieve. but when you're living with the daily fear of possible deportation, two years is certainly a very important benefit. >> carla, you applied to this program and were approved, obviously. and there are a couple things, really, at play here. one is the fear that a lot of students your age have. they want to go to school, but they don't have legal status. but you crossed the border with your parents when you were just 7 years old, and you say you still have nightmares about it. tell us what happened. >> well, yeah, i crossed the border, but, you know, it's just not my story out there. i have nightmares about it, but you know, millions of families come here to give their family a better life. so crossing the border was really hard. i still have nightmares about

it, but there's millions of stories out there just like mine. i'm not the only one. you know, families come here and risk their lives just to come here and give their family a better life, a better education. they struggle so much back home that they all want to have money, a little bit of money, just to survive. >> you were making very little money before you got this reprieve and were able to start community college. you say you were working a $3 an hour job. so now that you've been approved for this program, what do you think it means for your future? what are your plans? and tell us what happened, how you felt that moment you found out that you were one of the people who were eligible. >> well, the moment i got the letter in the mail, i was so excited. but yet part of me was sad because even though i got accepted, my friends and my family do not have -- they're not protected from getting deported, you know. there's millions of students out there who do not qualify because

of a mistake they made in the past. they're not perfect, so they made mistakes, and because of that, they won't qualify for the deferred action. but even if i qualify, you know, i'm not going to stop here. i'm going to keep on fighting for my community because they deserve something better. >> jose, karla points out she's one of millions of people who are living in this situation in this country. and many of them who are young people who came to this country because their parents wanted a better life for them. many of them have known any other country but this. we talked about this house bill that's going to be brought up today, probably has no chance of passing the senate, but the latino community really showed its power in this election. i'm wondering once we get through the fiscal cliff negotiations, is there a sense of renewed hope that something will finally be done in a comprehensive way about immigration? >> chris, there is renewed hope, but there is also a demand that something be done about the broken immigration reform

system, immigration system. let me tell you something, karla, think about this. this is a young woman who came here at a very early age through no fault of her own. she didn't take the decision. here she is speaking out publicly. think of the strength it takes to speak out publicly to know that your parents could get picked up. this is an administration that's deported over more than 1.2 million people over the last four years. the strength of these young people inspires others to go out and vote, for example, the 6th of november to say something needs to be done because you know what? in this country, bernie madoff's children are innocent until proven guilty, even though they worked with him, but they're presumed innocent because you cannot be found guilty for your parents' mistakes. and in this case, however, if you are brought here by your parents, you have to suffer for your parents' mistakes. you know what? if your father is a felon, it doesn't mean that you cannot vote. however, these young kids are being forced to assume the

responsibility that their parents made and through no fault of their own. it's a two-year reprieve. something needs to be done about immigration reform because simply doing nothing is not good enough. and the 6th of november proved that latinos are voting. they want results, not just talk. >> and i want to point out not only is karla now going to school, but she also founded a group to help other students. congratulations on that. jose, always great to see you. thank you so much. >> thank you. today's tweet of the day jumps in on the argument over the fiscal cliff. "politico's" ben white writes, "i demand the fiscal cliff deal also include farm bill, immigration reform, energy bill, obamacare fixes, dodd-frank reform and the dollar coin." hypertension drugs available for only a penny... so you can focus on what really matters. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc.

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is there a doctor in the house? wild animals on staten island,

and construction workers doing what? time now to go "down to the wire." it's a strike in spain like you've never seen. ♪ those are actual doctors and nurses on their fourth day of a strike who decided to do something besides walking the picket line, so they formed a flash mob to protest budget cuts. they say they'll strike as long as is necessary. here's something else you don't see every day. not even in new york. a pony and a zebra escaped from a staten island petting zoo and were spotted at a local shopping center parking lot much to the bewilderment of passersby. they were corralled and returned to the petting zoo from where they escaped. talk about serious skills. look what these drivers are doing with 24-ton construction equipment. the front loaders are dancing to the tune of "gangnam style." this one on during a trade show in shanghai, china.

a way to spice up what is otherwise a boring trade fair focused on heavy machinery. and a hearty hello from the newest stars at the moat marine laboratory in sarasota, florida. these south american sea lions are part of a new exhibit where they do tricks to try to educate the audience in the process. >> what happens if you do eat plastic? what happens to you, stella? what happens? oh, boy. she gets very sick. >> the new exhibit opens tomorrow. and that wraps up this hour of "jansing & co." >> have you heard the joke about the zebra and pony walk into a bar on staten island? all good video. >> thank you very much. we have a little friday fun. have a good weekend. speaking of which, we're going to take everybody to washington. friday fun there. the agenda beginning with the

republican revolt against the president's fiscal cliff opera. it comes as president obama takes his message on the road with all of the angst and the anger in washington, is america about to go cliff diving? we'll ask senator barbara boxer. she joins me. plus, those internal romney campaign polls that turned out to be so wrong. we're going to take you inside those numbers with on you power panel. and a momentous day as the supreme court could take up doma and other cases of marriage equality. we are live there. and the announcement everybody's been waiting for, one of the $387 million powerball winners is about to be revealed. y use temporary treatms when you can prevent the acid that's causing it with prevacid24hr. with one pill prevacid24hr works at the source to prevent the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day and all night. and with new prevacid24hr perks, you can earn rewards from dinner deals to music downloads for purchasing prevacid24hr. prevent acid all day and all night for 24 hours

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hi, everybody, good morning. i'm thomas roberts. topping the agenda getting closer to the cliff with time running out. the president is hitting the road and upping the ante before a deadline to prevent taxes from going up on just about every american. the president due to arrive in pennsylvania any minute where he will push his plan to extend tax cuts for the middle class and his trip comes just one day afr